First batch of the year! The berries are coming in plentiful around here and I can hardly keep up them, tho' I'm making a really good effort. I've been making jam about twice a week now for the past three weeks, yeilding 8-9 pints each batch. Needless to say, I've been handing it out to everybody

After measuring your sugar, mix 1/3 c. of it and mix with the pectin in a small bowl.

Sterilize your jars in a large pot of almost boiling water for about 10 minutes and keep in hot water until use.

In another large pot, mix the berries, lemon juice and pectin/sugar mix and bring to a full boil over medium/medium-high heat.

Add lids and rings to hot water bath with jars.

Add the remaining sugar to the boiling strawberry mixture and bring it back to a hard boil for 1 minute (a slow gradual heat to boiling cuts down on foam, so patience is really a virtue here). Remove from heat.

Skim any excess foam. Let stand for 5 minutes and stir completely.

Fill jars to within 1/4 in. of the top. Place on lids and rings. Place jars in water bath, with the water level completely covering the tops of the jars and boil for ten minutes.

Remove from water bath (I use regular barbeque tongs for this part -- I always forget about canning tongs) and let cool overnight.

Crack open for breakfast and enjoy the berry goodness all day long!!! Absolutely delish

A marionberry is a type of blackberry, I like them a little bit better since they're not quite as sweet. (And, if I'm being completely honest....the color of blackberries freaks me out just a wee bit )

I have made a plain strawberry jam with this recipe and it worked out great, I imagine any combination of less berries would work just fine -- I think

I really like this recipe, compared to others that I've seen, due to using less sugar (which you can also substitute honey for in this recipe) and it depends more heavily on the natural sugars of the berries and can also be made with frozen berries